The end of the rainbow

Tags

beads, handmade, polymer clay, retro beads, scrap clay

The scrap ends of my rainbow cane had some lovely colours, so I couldn’t look at them sitting on my board for long without wanting to make something new with them. I decided to make some of my round natasha beads. I mixed some the bright colours with white to get some tonal variation in the finished beads.

These beads are ridiculously complicated to make, involving an extruded cane cut into cubes, assembled into bigger cubes, then cut into natasha beads and then made round. Halfway through I realised I liked the cube format too, so after much deliberation I decided to keep most of them half formed.

I’m still not sure which I prefer…

I also used Fiona Abel-Smith’s tutorial to make another extruded cane with the rest of the scraps and a few others lurking on my table. I like the vintage granny square look that these have. I textured the surface of these beads to add to the textile impression.

Carved Bead Video

Tags

boho, earrings, free tutorial, handmade beads, polymer clay, tutorials02, video tutorial

I have finished editing another video which has been quite a feat now that it is school holidays. It’s an offshoot from my previous tutorial where I go off on a tangent and start carving the beads.

Here are some boho earrings I made using the finished beads.

I hope you find it interesting.

New video tutorial: heishi beads

Tags

free tutorial, handmade beads, heishi bead, polymer clay, tutorials02, video tutorial

I have finally managed to get another video tutorial filmed and edited. It’s a pretty simple tutorial since I’m still practising the video making. It’s mainly a tip I learned the slow way when making the heishi beads for my Thunderbird necklaces.

Hopefully I’ll get some more tutorials made soon. That’s if I can figure out how to get a longer video clip off my phone!

Let me know if there are any techniques you would be interested in seeing.

Veneer bead tutorial

Tags

bead, free tutorial, how to, polymer clay, scrap clay

Here’s a video showing my method of making polymer clay beads using a core of scrap clay and a decorative veneer on the outside. Previously I did a picture tutorial of this technique.

Enjoy.

Mokume gane video

Tags

earrings, mokume gane, polymer clay, surface treatment, tutorial

Here’s a video showing the technique I use to create a sheet of polymer clay mokume gane using a variety of stamps. I’m working on another video showing some things you can make with your finished sheet. I’m due to get a new phone tomorrow so the quality of the video footage should improve soon (although I still have a few demos that I have already filmed which are waiting for editing).

Here are some earrings I made using the sheet so you can see it all nicely sanded and finished. I have another video with a tip for sanding when there is wire embedded in your polymer clay.

Polymer clay earrings by Cate van Alphen

Sanding tip

Tags

free tutorial, polymer clay, sanding, video tutorial

Here’s a little sanding tip for when your polymer clay has wire embedded in it.

I’m working on a series of short tutorials around this project, but I’m a bit inexperienced with video editing so I started with something small.

Groovy blast from the past

Tags

earrings, jewellery, polymer clay, retro, teacup, vintage

My blog has been a bit quiet while I sort out a backlog of chores at home and excavate my workspace. Part of this process has been getting my jewellery listed online (it’s not entirely logical but I feel like I can’t make new stuff if there is nowhere for my existing things to go). The good news is that I have finally gotten some of my vintage teacup inspired earrings listed in my shop. I made them a few years ago, so here’s a reminder.

I have also finally completed a little tutorial video. It’s just a small tip for sanding your polymer clay when there is wire embedded in it (like for the triangle shaped pieces pictured above in the last row). It’s currently available as a preview for my Patreon subscribers, but I’ll be making it public soon.

Proddy Rug

Tags

handmade, proddy, rag rug, recycling, rug

It’s been a while since my last blog, so here’s a look at my current project. It’s a proddy rag rug. Inspired by hours looking at the rugs in Craftworkshop, I decided to give this a try since I have a lot of scrap fabric.

Rag rug in progress

Of course I didn’t actually look at any tutorials, I just looked at the rugs in the shop and guessed how they were done. I’m using scraps of fleece fabric and a knitting needle for the prodding. I’m not using a frame, but perhaps I should be, since it’s curling a bit on the back. I suspect my scraps are a bit densely packed too, but I think it will be ok since there is a recess at my front door which I am making this to fit into. I’ll just jam it in and stomp it flat when I’m done.

Back of rug

I’m doing an abstract design, just planning it as I go. It’s like a very slow motion doodle and is strangely addictive. Often I find it helps keep me interested if I don’t plan things out too fully. It’s also satisfying finding a way to recycle my scraps of fabric.

If you’d like to see a pro making one, here’s a nice video:

And this pdf tutorial even gives instructions for making the tools you will need.

Update: Here’s a more recent photograph with further progress on my rug.

Before I forget

Tags

art bead, cabochon, earrings, mica powder, polymer clay

I made another pair of forget-me-not earrings that I kept aside for a separate blog. And here’s why…

Forget-me-not earrings by Cate van Alphen

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I have made a Patreon page. It’s a site for creators to find sponsors in order to spend more energy on creating and less time worrying about how to pay the bills. As part of making my page I clarified some goals for myself: I want to use more art beads (made by other artists) and I want to make more tutorials.

I planned for the earrings above to incorporate both goals. I’ve got the art beads: I made the ivory coloured floral disks from polymer clay and the blue ceramic beads are by Jenny Gholson-Morris. But the tutorial part: not so much.

Making a video tutorial is proving more time-consuming than anticipated – I’m struggling to get footage that is in shot and in focus. Oh, right! This is why I set up the Patreon page in the first place – because at the moment I haven’t got much time for figuring this out. So until I can make a full tutorial, here’s a little tip.

Faux concrete cabochon by Cate van Alphen

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I made this cabochon as a way to use up the scraps from making carved beads. The muse wanted a matt concrete effect. My logical brain tells me this is to contrast with the shiny fragments. I wanted something more interesting so I drew in some scrolls and dots. I thought it still needed some subtle pep so I mixed green iridescent mica powder with a drop of water to paint into the dents. This caused the water (and mica) to puddle in the indentations and not all over the surface of the piece. I did the same thing for the petals of the flowers on the earrings.

I used Perfect Pearls for this technique as it has a built-in resin and I painted it onto uncured polymer clay. It didn’t seem to stick as well when painted onto baked clay.

By the way, if you would like to sponsor me, you can start from $1 a month and change your mind any time you like.

 

Gifts given

Tags

faux ivory, handmade bead, lentil, polymer clay, stained glass

Here are the gifts I made this year.

Stained glass lentil bead necklace by Cate van Alphen

This lentil bead necklace is a descendant of one of my earliest necklaces, and was actually a Christmas gift for the same sister. I hope she agrees it’s an upgrade. This one was a very easy baby to make :).

The next necklace was for a Boxing Day birthday. looks simple but it took a huge amount of time to make.

Egg bead necklace by Cate van Alphen

The first issue what the fact that the beads are ivory and white, so I had to work really carefully to keep the polymer clay clean and free from specks. The next issue, which I really felt when it was time to sand, is that the beads are…

Egg bead necklace by Cate van Alphen

BIG! Each bead is about the size of a bantam egg and there are a lot of them to make a long continuous necklace. As they say on the cookery competition programs: “Something this simple needs to be executed perfectly.”

Faux ivory egg beads by Cate van Alphen

For the surface decoration of the beads, I made a marbled cane using ivory, lots of white and transparent polymer clay (I had to redo some of them since my first cane was too yellow – doh!). Here is a tutorial I did for a marbled cane which in turn was based on this tutorial for mother of pearl.